Stark Raving Furious - Volume II

Welcome to the Second Edition of Stark Raving Furious.

Michael Moore, in the prologue to his 'Stupid White Men' book wrote about how his book was in danger of being pulped. Being released so soon after 9/11, Harper Collins (or Reagen Collins, I forget which) told him that it was 'un-American' to release a book that was so full of questions addressed to the people who run the U.S.A. Questions relating to 'How?' and 'Why?' 9/11 happened. Questions that set out to put into perspective a lot of the crime rates, illiteracy rates and general underachievements of the United States. The point is, the book was being opposed due to its dissent aimed squarely at the actions of George W. Bush and his cronies. It took a bunch of timid librarians - who had the opportunity to hear Michael Moore read a passage from his soon-to-be-pulped book - to stand up to Harper Collins and bomb them with letters expressing dissatisfaction at their proposed actions and to ensure that the book saw the light of day. Librarians!

Arriving at my ACTUAL point, those who were present in class today were privy to what I'm on about. For those who weren't, long story short, Sudhakar isn't best pleased with the ideologies (or lack thereof) that the college has adopted over the past few years. He isn't best pleased with the accusations levelled at him about instigating dissent. He also dislikes the fact that his students are receiving some fairly rough treatment from the likes of the watchmen and that renowned dipshit, Suryavanshi. Consequently, the self proclaimed 'Crazy Old Man' is considering throwing in the towel at some point soon.

First off, BMM with the lack of SSR typed in at the most unreasonable timeslots on the timetable would suck balls. Let's not delude ourselves. Right from the get-go, the guy grilled us in the interview and informed us later, that we weren't selected because we had the best marks or the best interviews, but because we had the potential to improve. The key phrase there - 'to improve'. What is learning if not a constant quest to improve oneself? Keeping us on our toes, from day one. The endless photocopies are just a solitary example of his urge to impart knowledge. Photocopies that if lined up side-by-side could probably create a paper trail all the way to-... well, you get the idea. Then of course, there was the Baramati/Satara bus trip, where he'd spend the whole day conducting workshops, taking us to admittedly, fairly odd places and would end up flat across his bed/a sofa. Passed out from sheer exhaustion. Let's not forget the cake/note/gestures that SSR was responsible for at Baramati for Sid, Jayesh and Ishita. Then, he did the SY Industrial Visit straight after and launched headlong into Himachal Pradesh as soon as he was back from the SY visit. The man apparently possesses infinite reserves of energy and enthusiasm (it would appear). I hardly need to mention the fact that he continues to drive us all to aim to excel and find the spark within us and nurture it, maybe douse it in kerosene to help it burn brighter. In addition, and probably the most controversial point of all, he hammers on and on about the need to question. The need to question everything and to settle for nothing. A throwback to the Socrates-style of dialectic thinking, which SSR never fails to mention at the best of times.

Incidentally, B. K. Karanjia considered the concept of 'questioning authority' to be very important as he mentioned at that founder's day thing. That's right, the same founder's day thing where that assclown Parkar showed just how foolish he was by claiming that it was the celebration of John Wilson's birth. Karanjia also felt that this was a theme that was slowly being phased out of educational institutions these days.

Is it all that important though? I mean, why should we care about this whole 'questioning' hoo-ha? Isn't it sufficient for us to lie down in the Henry Ford-esque assembly line and allow the system to churn us out as obedient, submissive and accepting automaton droids? Products of the system, and all that. After all, that would prime us perfectly to be obedient call centre employees, who can put on American accents, where needed and work in Dilbert-style cubicles. It's not like any of us ACTUALLY wanted to be journalists or advertisers anyway, right? Or even if we do become one of those, we can always use our training at college to accept what is handed to us by the Powers-that-be and nod, smile and obey orders. Why would college be all that different if Sudhakar was to throw in the towel? After all, they'd bring in another department head and within a couple of weeks, we'd all be saying, "Sudhakar, who?". Right?

Or perhaps we could NOT lie down, NOT take the random stupidity from the watchmen, Parkar and Suryavanshi and NOT submit to what is told to us, without questioning it. Sudhakar may have made his decision and if it is in fact, his decision to leave, there's not a whole lot we can do about it. Apart from doing what he taught us to do. QUESTION EVERYTHING! Don't take crap from the authorities! Dissent is the greatest weapon we possess.. USE IT!! We can't make the hierarchy bow down before us, but we can attempt to beat the system. The first step we've really got to take is to make sure that we're NEVER in the wrong. What I'm referring to right now is those pesky and degrading ID-Cards. I'd like to request everyone to ensure that they never forget to bring those. The last thing we want to do is to provide the pricks with more fuel and firepower against us.

And beyond that, we play it by ear and take it one step at a time.

Karan

"Yes I know my enemies
They’re the teachers who taught me to fight me
Compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission
Ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality, the elite
All of which are american dreams
All of which are american dreams
All of which are american dreams
All of which are american dreams
All of which are american dreams
All of which are american dreams
All of which are american dreams
ALL OF WHICH ARE AMERICAN DREAMS!!"

-Know Your Enemy - Rage Against the Machine